Warriors-Clippers Preview

By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTOPosted Jan 05 2013 3:13AM

The Pacific Division-leading Los Angeles Clippers have only lost eight games this season, but two have come at the hands of Stephen Curry and the surprising Golden State Warriors.

One was just three days ago.

Curry and the Warriors look to beat the Clippers again in order to match their longest winning streak of the season Saturday night at Staples Center.

Los Angeles (26-8) leads the division by three games on second-place Golden State (22-10), one of the biggest surprises in the NBA since it's reached the playoffs once in 18 seasons.

The Warriors' impressive turnaround has them one win shy of matching their total from all of last season, their first under coach Mark Jackson.

Jackson has them in position for a third win in a row over the Clippers after Curry poured in 31 points with eight assists, while hitting 11 of 16 from the floor - 6 of 8 from beyond the arc - in a 115-94 win against them Wednesday.

"The Clippers didn't need to beat us to validate that they're a good basketball team, and we didn't need to beat them to validate that we're one," Jackson said. "Two teams that are going to be around.

"To us, it was another basketball game. Another opportunity to get better."

Curry continues to do that in what's turning out to be his best season since being selected seventh overall out of Davidson in 2009. The point guard leads the team with career highs of 20.4 points per game and 6.5 assists.

He was key to winning the season's first meeting with the Clippers on Nov. 3, scoring 23 points in a 114-110 final at Staples Center.

The Warriors haven't won both season meetings on the road in this series since 2002-03, and doing so would also equal their season-high five-game winning streak set from Dec. 5-12.

Golden State, though, isn't expecting to find welcoming hosts.

"Going back to their place on Saturday, we know it's going to be a dog fight again, and they're going to be ready and make adjustments," said forward David Lee, who had 24 points and 13 rebounds Wednesday for his 20th double-double.

Lee is second on Golden State with an average of 20.2 points and fifth in the league with 11.1 boards, but he wasn't nearly that effective offensively at Staples Center in November, scoring eight points with 12 rebounds.

While Curry and Lee give the Warriors a tremendous one-two scoring punch, the Clippers have their own in guard Chris Paul and forward Blake Griffin.

Griffin is averaging 17.6 points and 8.6 rebounds, while Paul is scoring 16.7 and his 9.3 assists are second in the NBA.

Both were vital to Los Angeles bouncing back from its latest defeat to Golden State on Friday. Paul had a season-high 30 points with 13 assists and Griffin added 24 points in a 107-102 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

That was a welcome change for Griffin after he totaled 29 points over the previous three games, including 10 on Wednesday while making just 2 of 11 from the field and struggling versus Lee.

"Those guys have been resting since they played us a few nights ago," said Paul, who has totaled 50 points in two season meetings with Golden State. "It's our home game and we've got to take the momentum and beat them."

Despite the Clippers and Warriors seemingly pulling away from the rest of the pack in the division race, Jackson is playing down any talk of a burgeoning rivalry.

"We're just two teams that's trying to change our recent history and build something from this day forward," he said. "Now, where it goes from there, I think it can be exciting and we both have staying power, but neither one of us have done anything yet."

Copyright 2013 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Clippers get club-record 12th straight home win

By JOE RESNICKPosted Jan 06 2013 2:27AM

LOS ANGELES (AP) The Los Angeles Clippers had no intention of going 0-3 against the Golden State Warriors, and they played like it.

Chris Paul had 27 points and nine assists, Blake Griffin added 20 points and the Clippers set a franchise record with their 12th straight home victory, 115-89 over the Warriors on Saturday night.

"We've been pretty good at home," Paul said. "I think that's 12 in a row for us here. It's all about our fans, and we feed off them. So we've got to keep making this a tough place to play.

"The first time they beat us here, you would have thought they won the NBA Finals," Paul added. "Then they beat us up there pretty handily, so we wanted to protect our home court. This was the third time we've played those guys at the end of a back-to-back, so we knew if we let them get out and run, we'd be in for a long night."

Instead, it was a long night for the Warriors, who slipped four games behind the Clippers in the Western Conference standings. Coach Mark Jackson got so frustrated at one point late in the third quarter after an alley-oop dunk by a giddy DeAndre Jordan, he came onto the court and just glared at the Clippers' bench as they celebrated during the ensuing timeout. Some of them stared back.

"It was just a good old-fashioned heavyweight championship staredown. That's all," Jackson said. "But they earned the right to celebrate, the way they played. So what you've got to do as a coach or as a player is just let it soak in and remember it. That's all. Mark it down with permanent ink."

The Clippers lead the NBA with a 27-8 record, a half-game ahead of conference rivals Oklahoma City and San Antonio. They won a club-record 17 straight overall before back-to-back road losses at Denver and Golden State, then beat the Lakers 107-102 on Friday. The Clippers' previous best home winning streak was set in 1978-79, their first season in San Diego after the franchise left Buffalo.

Jordan added 13 points and eight rebounds for Los Angeles, which built a 23-point lead through the first quarter and won for the 19th time in 21 games overall. Coach Vinny Del Negro pulled Griffin and Paul after the Clippers built a 96-60 lead with 2:40 left in the third quarter.

Klay Thompson had a team-high 14 points for the Warriors (22-11), who had won 12 of 15 and were trying to match the second-best start in team history behind the 1975-76 squad that won 25 of its first 33. They were 23-10 in 1955-56 and in 1991-92.

"We didn't play well and they played like they wanted to send a message, so give them credit," Jackson said. "It's fresh in their minds what took place just the other day, so we knew their mindset and we didn't respond."

Playing their fourth game in five nights, the Clippers busted out of the gate with a 22-6 run while Golden State missed 15 of its first 18 shots. Stephen Curry and David Lee, the only Warriors averaging 20 or more points, both were 0 for 4 during that stretch.

"The Clippers outplayed us in every facet of the game, but it wasn't due to a lack of preparation," Lee said. "NBA players realize that out of an 82-game schedule there are going to be nights like this, and nights where you win by 30. They were on their fourth game in five nights, and they outplayed us from the jump."

Matt Barnes stripped the ball from rookie Draymond Green under the basket and hustled the length of the floor to tip in Willie Green's missed layup just before the first-quarter buzzer, giving Los Angeles a 35-12 cushion. It was the lowest-scoring opening period for the Warriors.

"This was a business win for us," Griffin said. "This is how we want to win games. We wanted to take care of it early, and that's what we did. Wednesday's game was pretty fresh in our minds."

The Clippers extended the margin to 67-43 at halftime, shooting 61.4 percent from the field and outrebounding the Warriors 24-12. Eric Bledsoe provided the exclamation point at the end of the second quarter when he blocked a driving layup by Jarrett Jack just before the buzzer. The 6-foot-1 point guard has 24 blocked shots in the team's first 35 games and 63 in 156 regular-season contests.

"The fact that they beat us twice was the biggest thing," Barnes said. "They're a conference opponent and they're only a few games behind us, so you just want to come out and make a statement."

Shooting guard Jamal Crawford, who leads the Clippers' reserves with 16.5 points per game, missed his second straight contest because of a sore left foot. The 13-year veteran, who signed as a free agent in July, tops all reserves in the league with 14 games of 20 or more points - including the 27 he scored against the Warriors in a 114-110 loss on Nov. 3, and the 24 he had against them in Wednesday's 115-94 defeat at Oakland.

"Right now we're just trying to get healthy," Paul said. "We're missing Jamal, Grant (Hill) and Chauncey (Billups), but we've got two games in the next seven days, so hopefully we can rest up a little bit. I'm glad this four-of-five stretch is over. I'm tired."

NOTES: The Clippers have beaten the Warriors at least once in each of the last 26 seasons, their longest such streak against any team. ... Lee was called for a flagrant 1 foul with 2:38 left in the second quarter when he got his hands on Griffin's torso as he went up for an alley-oop lob from Eric Bledsoe. Griffin missed the shot and landed on his feet.

Copyright 2013 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Notebook: Clippers 115, Warriors 89

THE FACTS: Everything was stacked against the Clippers on Saturday night. They were coming off a hard-fought victory the night before against the Lakers, were missing their top reserve and had already lost to the well-rested Warriors twice this season. The difference, once again, was Chris Paul. He finished with 27 points in 29 minutes, handed out nine assists and even grabbed five rebounds, leading the Clippers to their most impressive victory of the season, a 115-89 blowout against Golden State at Staples Center Saturday night.

QUOTABLE: "A back-to-back, and I thought our energy was good throughout."

-- Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro

THE STAT: After having their franchise-record 17-game winning streak snapped last week in Denver, the Clippers (27-8) won their 12th consecutive home game, setting another franchise record.

TURNING POINT: The Warriors (22-11) had been idle since beating the Clippers in Oakland on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Clippers needed to hold off the Lakers on Friday night in an epic clash. Advantage: Warriors→ Not this time. Golden State missed 15 of its first 18 field-goal attempts as the Clippers blew out to a 23-6 lead. They stretched the advantage to 35-12 at the end of the quarter, the lowest-scoring opening quarter of the season for Golden State. The Warriors tried to make things interesting by scoring 11 of the first 13 points in the second quarter, but Paul checked back into the game and had seven points and an assist in L.A.'s own 11-2 run. It only got worse from there for the Warriors, who suffered their worst defeat of the season.

HOT: With super sub Jamal Crawford sidelined for a second consecutive game with a sore left foot, Paul made sure the Clippers didn't miss him again. A night after scoring a season-high 30 points and collecting 13 assists and six rebounds against the Lakers, Paul put up similar numbers in 13 less minutes. Another difference from the night before was Paul's shooting efficiency. After shooting 11-for-25 against the Lakers, he was 10-for-12 against Golden State, his best shooting percentage since joining the Clippers prior to last season and the most efficient of his career when taking more than seven shots. He was 5-for-6 from 3-point range, matching his career high for 3-pointers.

NOT: The two leading scorers for Golden State this season, David Lee and Stephen Curry, had played well against the Clippers in Golden State's two previous victories this season. Curry combined for 51 points in those games. Lee totaled 32 points and 25 rebounds and forced Clippers forward Blake Griffin into two subpar performances. But the pair was a big reason the Warriors got off to such a slow start, combining to miss all nine of their field-goal attempts in the opening quarter. Lee eventually finished with 10 points on 3-for-10 shooting, his first game under 17 points since netting 10 in a 24-point loss to the Lakers on Nov. 9. Curry had 10 points on 4-for-11 shooting.

GOOD MOVE: The Clippers turned the third quarter into Lob City. Paul banked a lob off the backboard on a 3-on-0 breakaway to a trailing DeAndre Jordan, who powered the basketball through the rim to extend L.A.'s lead to 36. Paul then set up Jordan for another lob on the next trip down the floor. Golden State called timeout and coach Mark Jackson spent the next 30 seconds staring down the Clippers bench, apparently not happy with the showboating. Del Negro did the wise thing and soon removed Paul, Griffin and Jordan, avoiding any retaliatory strikes by the Warriors.

BAD MOVE: The Clippers extended the lead to 39 points at the start of the fourth quarter and still had their top reserves on the floor, the ones who've created the second-highest scoring bench in the NBA this season. But they took it easy on Golden State in the closing minutes, allowing them to creep back within 27 points with 3:10 remaining. Del Negro called timeout out and reminded his players there was still time on the clock, but they were still outscored by two points the rest of the way, making the final score seem a lot closer than it was.

QUOTABLE II: "I don't particularly want to talk about the fourth quarter, but we just got the job done."

-- Vinny Del Negro

NOTABLE: The Clippers are 29-4 in their last 33 regular-season games at Staples Center, the second-best mark of any team since March 17, 2012. ... The Clippers are atop the Pacific Division at the latest point of the season in their franchise history. ... The Warriors fell to 10-2 this season against teams with winning records. ... Seven players scored in double figures for L.A., including a season-high 17 points for reserve guard Eric Bledsoe. Clippers starting guard Willie Green matched his season high with 11 points and produced season highs of four assists and three steals.